The present invention relates to a structure for contacts of an electrical connector.
Referring to FIG. 6, one board-engaging structure for a conventional contact 60 of an electrical connector is a xe2x80x9cpress-fitxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cneedle-eyexe2x80x9d structure. Contacts with this structure require no soldering for connection to a printed circuit board 80. A contact area is created between each bulge portion 62a of a tail portion 62 and each inner surface 84 of a hole 82 defined in the printed circuit board 80. However, each contact area is merely point-to-point, and is not sufficiently large to ensure reliable electrical contact. Furthermore, each point-to-point contact area causes the inner surface 84 of the hole 82 to be prone to damage when the tail portion 62 is removed from the PCB 80.
Hence, an improved board-engaging structure for contacts of an electrical connector is required to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a board-engaging structure for contacts of an electrical connector wherein the structure has a pair of elastically deformable locking arms which increase the contact area between the structure and a printed circuit board (PCB).
To fulfill the above-mentioned objective, a contact for an electrical connector in accordance with the present invention comprises an elongate body portion and a board-engaging structure extending downward from a lower end of the body portion. The board-engaging structure comprises a tail portion defining a vertical elongated hole in its middle. At each of two lateral sides of the hole, the tail portion forms a locking arm curved clockwise around part of the girth of the tail portion. Each locking arm has a contact surface. Each contact surface is oblique such that an upper portion thereof extends further away from a longitudinal axis of the tail portion than a lower portion thereof does. Thus a considerable contact area is created between each contact surface and an inner wall of a hole in a PCB.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.